Economy in Brief

Upward pressure on wholesale prices eased last month. The producer price index for finished goods was unchanged during July (2.1% y/y) following an unrevised 0.8% June increase. The figure fell short of consensus expectations for a [...]

Total business inventories were unchanged versus May (3.5% y/y) following that month's 0.1% downtick, last month reported as a 0.1% uptick. The figure was accompanied by a 0.2% rise (4.9% y/y) in business sales. As a result, the [...]

Last month Germany's ZEW index rose on only one leg while this month it rises on two, as both current conditions and expectations have improved month-to-month. Last month, as the current index advanced to 10.6 in July from a reading [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index nudged up during July to a seasonally adjusted 94.1 from 93.5 in June. The gain did not fully make up June's decline and thus remained [...]

Import prices increased 0.2% last month following a 0.4% June decline, initially reported as -0.2%. A 0.9% rise in prices had been expected in the Action Economics survey. A 3.2% jump (7.8% y/y) in petroleum prices was accompanied by [...]

Retail sales nudged up just 0.2% last month (5.4% y/y) following a revised June gain of 0.6%, initially reported as 0.4%. A 0.3% rise had been expected according to Action Economics. Retail sales excluding motor vehicles were stronger [...]

Following softness earlier this year, the recent firming of industrial commodity prices indicate that a corner toward improvement has been turned. Friday's industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International [...]

Abe's economics (Abe-nomics) is not exactly stumbling, but neither is it hitting the home run that it seemed to be when the program first was launched. GDP in the second quarter is up at a stronger pace year-over-year at 0.9% compared [...]